Board debates raises

Written by Brooks Taylor
Friday, 03 May 2013 18:44

County supervisors carried over a request from Circuit Clerk Sharon Reynolds for raises for her staff and matching funds into her own state retirement account at their payroll meeting Tuesday – but not before receiving a related report from Barbara Tuchel of Tunicans for Transparency in Government.Tuchel said the transparency committee is urging Tunica County to move toward a “merit based raise system rather than the across the board system of the past.“Just because the employees across the lobby from the Circuit Clerk’s office earned and were granted raises does not necessarily mean raises need to be granted in the Circuit Clerk’s office,” she added.Tuchel noted that residents “depend on the Circuit Clerk for accuracy and efficiency.” The TTG report included documents copied from the official record of absentee ballots from 2007’s primary which shows that 20 absentee ballots were sent to one post office box. The report also noted that none of these 20 absentee ballots were marked with a received date by the Circuit Clerk’s office.